Communication Methods

VAN

A Value-added Network (VAN) is a hosted service offering that acts as an intermediary between business partners sharing standards based or proprietary data via shared Business Processes. The offered service is referred to as "Value-added Network Service".

AS2

AS2 (Applicability Statement 2) is a specification for Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) between businesses using the Internet's Web page protocol, the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The specification is an extension of the earlier version, Applicability Statement 1 (AS1). Both specifications were created by EDI over the Internet (EDIINT), a working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) that develops secure and reliable business communications standards.

X400

X.400 is a suite of ITU-T Recommendations that define standards for Data Communication Networks for Message Handling Systems (MHS) — more commonly known as "e-mail". While X.400 never achieved the universal presence of Internet e-mail, it has seen use within organizations, and as part of proprietary e-mail products such as Microsoft Exchange Server.

OFTP

X.400 is a suite of ITU-T Recommendations that define standards for Data Communication Networks for Message Handling Systems (MHS) — more commonly known as "e-mail". While X.400 never achieved the universal presence of Internet e-mail, it has seen use within organizations, and as part of proprietary e-mail products such as Microsoft Exchange Server.

OFTP2

OFTP 2 (ODETTE File Transfer Protocol) is a specification for the secure transfer of business documents over the Internet, ISDN and X.25 networks. OFTP 2 can work point-to-point or indirectly via a VAN (Value Added Network). A single OFTP 2 entity can make and receive calls, exchanging files in both directions. This means that OFTP 2 can work in a push or pull mode, as opposed to AS2, which can only work in a push mode.